Baltimore Ravens to start 2013 season on road

Season to start Sept. 5 on road as result of scheduling conflict

The Super Bowl XLVII champion Baltimore Ravens will open the 2013 regular season on the road on Sept. 5.

For the first time in 10 years, the Super Bowl champions will not open the next season at home.

Traditionally, the NFL gives the Super Bowl champs the season-opening game at their own stadium. This year, that would be on Thursday, Sept. 5. But the Orioles, who share a parking lot with the Ravens, already have a game scheduled for that night.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wanted a Baltimore double-header: O's in the afternoon, Ravens at night. Both sides had been in talks over options.

The Ravens still don't know where they will open the season, but they do know it will not be in Baltimore.

The NFL needs to set the first game in order to complete the rest of the 2013 schedule. When it became apparent that no compromise cold satisfy both teams -- as well as traffic, parking and security needs -- the league went ahead with the decision to break tradition.

Denver and Pittsburgh look like the most likely destinations for the Ravens opener. You can scratch Cincinnati from the list of possible places for the opener, since, like the Orioles, the Cincinnati Reds have a home night game scheduled for Sept. 5 right next door to where the Bengals play.

The Ravens released the following statement from President Dick Cass:

"After thorough discussions among the Orioles, the NFL and the Ravens, it became clear that holding both an Orioles' game and the Ravens' regular season opener on the same day would create logistical situations that would cause serious issues for the city of Baltimore, and fans for both teams. The Ravens greatly appreciate the willingness of the Orioles to adjust the start of their game in an effort to make this sports spectacular happen. But, in the end, anticipated problems with parking, rush-hour traffic, plus crowd and car congestion around Oriole Park and M&T Bank Stadium, will keep the doubleheader from taking place."

NFL senior vice president of communications Greg Aiello released the following statement:

"While we are disappointed for the fans in Baltimore, we appreciate the efforts of the Ravens, Orioles and Major League Baseball and understand the logistical problems in trying to schedule the teams on the same day. The Ravens will open the season on the road on Thursday night, Sept. 5, in our annual NFL Kickoff Game on NBC. We are exploring potential fan activities in Baltimore around the Kickoff Game, including a pre-game concert."

The Orioles released the following statement:

"The Orioles have great respect for the Super Bowl Champion Ravens and thank Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association, and the White Sox for doing everything possible to work with us to explore all options to reschedule the September 5 game. We also appreciate the work of the NFL and the Ravens over the past several weeks as we attempted to accommodate the Ravens' interest in a game the same evening. Given the limited options available to reschedule the game at that late date in the season, the parties jointly determined that even an earlier start time would still create such enormous logistical difficulties that it would greatly diminish the fan experience for both events which all parties realized would not be in the interest of their fans or the city."